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The Proposal

What happens to intellectual property if it is privatised? This is the question Jill Magid asks when she wants to make an artwork that deals with the work of Luis Barragán, the most significant Mexican architect of the 20th century. It turns out that Barragán’s huge archive was sold in 1995, seven years after his death, to the owner of Swiss design company Vitra, who gave it as a wedding present to his fiancée, Federica Zanco. Since then it has not left the basement of Vitra’s headquarters, where it is jealously guarded by its new owner.

Instead of indignantly going on the attack, Magid courts Zanco with flattering letters demonstrating their shared passion for Barragán. An unusual love triangle emerges as the partners gradually become closer. Magid’s final goal is to make the archives public again, preferably in Mexico. To get Zanco’s permission, she makes her a proposal that is as macabre as it is romantic.